Morganville Vampires 11: Last Breath

Table of Contents

 

 

THE MORGANVIKLKLE VAMPIRES NOVEKLS

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First published by New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

 

First Printing, November 2011

Copyright © Roxanne Longstreet Conrad, 2011 All rights reserved

 

REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

 

Caine, Rachel.

Last breath/Rachel Caine.

p. cm.—(The Morganville vampires)

ISBN : 978-1-101-54544-7

[1. Supernatural—Fiction. 2. Vampires—Fiction. 3. Colleges and universities—Fiction. 4. Texas—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.C1198Las 2011

[Fic]—dc23 2011020503

 

Set in Centaur MT

 

 

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To Claire Wilkins, Griffin, and Gareth.
I know Big G will always be with you.
Love.

For all their amazing encouragement:

I
f you’re new to the Morganville Vampires series, welcome!

And sorry, because it’s Book 11, and you may be kicking yourself right about now, but don’t worry. I’ll catch you up quickly once you start to read.

For those faithful Morganville Residents who’ve been with me the whole way, I’m trying something new this time—an extension of what I started in Book 10,
Bite Club
. So in the pages of
Last Breath
, you’ll venture out of Claire’s point of view (the typical way the other Morganville novels have been told), although you’ll stay with her for the majority of this book as well. But you’ll get to view the story from a few
other
important perspectives: those of Amelie, Shane, Michael, and Eve.

So just make sure to look at the header at the top of each chapter to know from whose perspective you’re about to read. Each point of view comes with its own chapter.

Thank you for coming along on the ride, and I hope you enjoy
Last Breath
!

And yes … there is a Book 12.

And no, I won’t tell you what happens. Yet.

W
ELCOME TO MORGANVILLE. You must be new here. That’s fine; we welcome new blood to our town … but you need to know the rules. Don’t stay out after dark. Don’t break our laws. And, whatever you do, don’t get on the bad side of the vampires.

Yes, vampires—we said it and we meant it. They’re everywhere in this town … and they’re the people you’d least suspect. But most of them just want to live their lives in peace. Oh, there are a few troublemakers—aren’t there always?—but Morganville is all about harmony and cooperation. Theoretically.

You’ll probably need to find yourself a vampire Protector. That means one who’ll ensure the safety of you and your family, for the low, low price of a percentage of your income and regular donations at the blood bank in his or her name.

If you don’t want to go with a Protector, well, it’s your funeral. Some have done it, sure. But most aren’t around to endorse the practice, if you get my drift. Talk to the residents of the Glass House: Claire, Shane, Michael, and Eve. They’ll tell you all about your chances of survival.

And remember: welcome to Morganville! You’ll never want to leave.

And even if you want to … well, you can’t. Sorry about that.

S
hane’s lips felt like velvet against the nape of her neck, and Claire shivered in delight as his breath warmed the skin there. She leaned back against him with a sigh. Her boyfriend’s body felt solid and safe, and his arms went around her, wrapping her in comfort. He was taller than she was, so he had to bend to rest his chin on her shoulder and whisper, “You sure about this?”

Claire nodded. “You got the overdue notice, didn’t you? It’s this or they come to collect. You don’t want that.”

“Well, you don’t have to be here,” he pointed out—not for the first time today. “Don’t you have classes?”

“Not today,” she said. “I had an oh-my-God a.m. lab, but now I’m all done.”

“Okay, then, you don’t have to do this because you’re tax-exempt.”

By
tax-exempt
, he meant that she didn’t have to pay … in blood. Taxes in Morganville were collected three ways: the polite way, via the collection center downtown, or the not-so-polite way, when the Bloodmobile showed up like a sleek black shark at your front door, with
Men in Black
—style “technicians” to ensure you did your civic duty.

The third way was by force, in the dark, when you ventured out un-Protected and got bitten.

Vampires. A total pain in the neck—literally.

Shane was entirely right: Claire had a legal document that said she was free from the responsibility of donations. The popular wisdom—and it wasn’t wrong—was that she’d already given enough blood to Morganville.